NEC has developed a 0.3-millimeter (0.012-inch) thick, foldable battery to be used in cards or clothes, leading to new possibilities such as people walking through ticket gates with fare passes in their pockets.
The battery can support tens of thousands of signal transmissions on a single charge and can be recharged in less than 30 seconds.
It “will be used extensively in the future to power all kinds” of gadgets ranging from electronic paper to tags that trace retail goods in real-time, said the Japanese company. It will also “open the way for small wearable computers, such as ticket cards that can be attached to a person’s clothes.”